Re: Board members who make music

I make music.

A friend and I just finished working on some tracks, which are pretty different to the stuff I would normally do. Heavy guitars and beats.We don't have vocals yet though. I could post the instrumentals here, though, if anyone's interested.

Nice mix Brandon.

"The first time I heard the new single off the Bravery album, I actually cried, and I do not even remember the name of that damn song. It reminded me of this girl I am in love with." - kroqken

Hey, I just got done listening to this. I'm really impressed, and I'm not just saying that cause it's you.

I have some notes, and you can take them or leave them:

-The first five seconds remind me of "Can't Change Me" by Chris Cornell.
-Then when the keyboard comes in, it sounds a bit like a Coldplay intro
-Then when the drums kick in it really becomes a song of its own, and sounds good.
-The vocals slightly let the rest of the song down, I feel. The singer does not have a bad voice, it's just really unremarkable. It sounds like someone's uncle singing in the shower. Also he needs to be really careful not to sound like a singer doing an impression of another singer. That's the worst mistake a vocalist can make.
-The instrumental with clapping at 2:10 into the song is awesome.
-The only drum part I don't like is the three high-hats in a row when the singer sings "Cannot stay here" at 1:04, 1:08 and 1:12, and again when he sings "Falling again" at 1:40, 1:44 and 1:48. It just feels weak compared to the rest of the song.
-The ending suddenly sounds a bit like System Of A Down and I think that is partly because of the guitar sound but also partly because the singer veers dangerously close to doing an impression of Serj on a couple of occasions. Like I said, he should be away of that.
-Otherwise, it's a strong song, although there's a few times where it feels like it's building up to a really melodic singalong chorus which it never really delivers. Maybe that's intentional, maybe not. I dunno. Depends what type of band you are and what type of songs you want to write.

Anyway, that's just my two cents. I really like it, and I want to hear more!

"The first time I heard the new single off the Bravery album, I actually cried, and I do not even remember the name of that damn song. It reminded me of this girl I am in love with." - kroqken

Re: Board members who make music

i'm at the hospital... waiting for the baby to be born. improvising with a DX7 emulation instrument that has full spectrum matrix control of a complex waveform FM instrument built in SuperCollider (look into, the shit is unreal supercollider.sourceforge.net).

The nurse yelled at me to use headphones.

It's only one instrument and all of the controls were done live (SuperCollider has the ability to record whatever sound you are sending out of the server, so it's like recording a live performance, no post). Fun stuff...

Re: Board members who make music

Originally Posted by wmgaretjax

i'm at the hospital... waiting for the baby to be born. improvising with a DX7 emulation instrument that has full spectrum matrix control of a complex waveform FM instrument built in SuperCollider (look into, the shit is unreal supercollider.sourceforge.net).

Re: Board members who make music

Originally Posted by wmgaretjax

i'm at the hospital... waiting for the baby to be born. improvising with a DX7 emulation instrument that has full spectrum matrix control of a complex waveform FM instrument built in SuperCollider (look into, the shit is unreal supercollider.sourceforge.net).

The nurse yelled at me to use headphones.

It's only one instrument and all of the controls were done live (SuperCollider has the ability to record whatever sound you are sending out of the server, so it's like recording a live performance, no post). Fun stuff...

damn, thats some crazy sound. Are you just using subtractive synthesis? like running it through a filter? or is it granular? i just downloaded it but its all gibberish to me. i get this stuff when its laid out on a panel but working with a whole new language is challenging.

Re: Board members who make music

Originally Posted by PineapplePete

damn, thats some crazy sound. Are you just using subtractive synthesis? like running it through a filter? or is it granular? i just downloaded it but its all gibberish to me. i get this stuff when its laid out on a panel but working with a whole new language is challenging.

It's simpler than that. It's additive synthesis.

Do you know what FM synthesis is? Basically the frequency of one signal is modulated with another. This is an instrument that has a matrix of modulations happening for 2-6 signals. So you can control really complex modulations that are interdependent. You can even make really complex beat patches if you want with an instrument like this. Most of what I did looks revolves around a primary signal that is punching through at 10-30hz, sub-hearing. It's modulated by a bunch of really slow signals that essentially add distinct rhythms (with uneven phases so you get prime interactions). Then the last signal in the matrix is a frequency that is audible (through most of that improv it hangs out at around 1200hz).

And when a signal is modulated with itself it introduces a lot of noise, I'm taking advantage of that a lot.

Re: Board members who make music

ah, i see. ya, i get all that...its just a whole lot easier to see when using tangible hardware and patches rather than software. but i'm impressed at how much potential this has. really powerful stuff...is there a tone generator too or are you using a different program for that?

Re: Board members who make music

Originally Posted by PineapplePete

ah, i see. ya, i get all that...its just a whole lot easier to see when using tangible hardware and patches rather than software. but i'm impressed at how much potential this has. really powerful stuff...is there a tone generator too or are you using a different program for that?

SuperCollider's core is a huge fuckload of bit level u gens. The generator used for that sample (which I literally threw together, it only scratches the surface of what you can do) is just a simple Sin Oscillator. There are noise generators, complex waveform generators, all kinds of filters, delays, everything in between.

Most ugens in supercollider have help files that include sample bits of code. There is a hotkey (apple shift D on macs) that will let you browse the different classes that contain help files. that sample code is the best way to start tweaking around.

I've used it for live processing as well. For live guitar effects, vocal stuff, and the like. It gets a lot trickier, but worth the pay off to have such low level control of every sound you want to make. There is a book that's a comprehensive guide book (that the creator, and others that are responsible for developing the core classes contributed to) coming out on MIT press later this year.

and you are right, hardware is way easier to tool around with. but if you've fucked around with much, and have a vague idea what's going on. the transition to software isn't as hard as you might think... Worth looking into if you have some uses for that kind of control.

Re: Board members who make music

Originally Posted by Stefinitely Maybe

I make music.

A friend and I just finished working on some tracks, which are pretty different to the stuff I would normally do. Heavy guitars and beats.We don't have vocals yet though. I could post the instrumentals here, though, if anyone's interested.

Stef - Email me some stuff and i'll try laying some vocals down when i'm back in blighty next week.

Originally Posted by JustSteve

well, for all intensive porpoises it is, will sell out within seconds tomorrow.

Re: Board members who make music

Originally Posted by wmgaretjax

SuperCollider's core is a huge fuckload of bit level u gens. The generator used for that sample (which I literally threw together, it only scratches the surface of what you can do) is just a simple Sin Oscillator. There are noise generators, complex waveform generators, all kinds of filters, delays, everything in between.

Most ugens in supercollider have help files that include sample bits of code. There is a hotkey (apple shift D on macs) that will let you browse the different classes that contain help files. that sample code is the best way to start tweaking around.

I've used it for live processing as well. For live guitar effects, vocal stuff, and the like. It gets a lot trickier, but worth the pay off to have such low level control of every sound you want to make. There is a book that's a comprehensive guide book (that the creator, and others that are responsible for developing the core classes contributed to) coming out on MIT press later this year.

and you are right, hardware is way easier to tool around with. but if you've fucked around with much, and have a vague idea what's going on. the transition to software isn't as hard as you might think... Worth looking into if you have some uses for that kind of control.

ya, this seemed so daunting at first...but then i realized that its just OOP. if you think about it that way, its really simple. its amazing how fast you can pick up on this

Re: Board members who make music

Re: Board members who make music

Originally Posted by wmgaretjax

It's simpler than that. It's additive synthesis.

Do you know what FM synthesis is? Basically the frequency of one signal is modulated with another. This is an instrument that has a matrix of modulations happening for 2-6 signals. So you can control really complex modulations that are interdependent. You can even make really complex beat patches if you want with an instrument like this. Most of what I did looks revolves around a primary signal that is punching through at 10-30hz, sub-hearing. It's modulated by a bunch of really slow signals that essentially add distinct rhythms (with uneven phases so you get prime interactions). Then the last signal in the matrix is a frequency that is audible (through most of that improv it hangs out at around 1200hz).

And when a signal is modulated with itself it introduces a lot of noise, I'm taking advantage of that a lot.

Damn, if you think that's interesting, wait 'til you start hearing the sounds of a baby crying and having a tantrum! (Kidding.) BTW...Congrats again!

"Who is this doing this synthetic type of Alpha Beta psychedelic funkin'?"CHEMICAL BROTHERS

Re: Board members who make music

I've been in a number of bands. Played in front of 20-30k people before, to playing to the bartenders/wait staff at a dive bar. Done the mini tour thing, riding in a cramped van with hung over bandmates, going from town to town. Sometimes playing 2 shows in one night at 2 different venues. Ahh, the memories...

I sincerely admire and respect all of you who are able to use technology to create. I'm just way too old school, I guess. Or, maybe I don't have the patience. I never used any processors for my guitar sound. Love the stomp pedals too much.

Some of my favorite work was in band called "47 Thieves". I'm still very proud of the songs I wrote in that band, even though they probably are a bit dated now (mid 90's). I'll have to load those up one these days.